Cordilleran Youth Center on International Youth Day 2021
THIS year’s International Youth Day revolves around youth participation in advocating innovative and more sustainable means of maintaining our food systems. The pandemic has revealed multiple problems that arose in attempts to sustain food supply throughout the entire globe where it has been a challenge for many to gain access to food due to the implemented health restrictions. This being said, more people are forced to look tinto alternative means in order to sustain their needs – what with unhealthy, cheap options being the only choice made available for them. In a study conducted by French et. al (2019) on nutritional quality of food, they observed that more often than not, low income families sustain themselves with food of low nutritional quality. With the financial difficulties faced by numerous households due to the pandemic, it is likely that more families will eventually have to shift to food of lower nutritional quality that eventually affects their health in the long run.
One solution that stands out is providing more support towards our agricultural systems and giving them a more robust change that can adapt to the changing times. By strengthening our agricultural sector, we are able to come up with sustainable yet attainable actions to provide healthier food systems for all. Att the same time we are able to empower farmers and workers who are the backbone of these food systems. On a micro-scale, by helping our local farmers, we can already make a great impact in further uplifting them and this ensures that the aid is directly given to them. Alongside this, would be strengthening their current practices to be more sustainable while in the current pandemic. With the current technologies we have at hand, it is possible to improve our food systems into one that keeps up with the progress already made in society.
At a time where farmers and workers of the world currently face atrocities of capitalism such that they are met with poor labour conditions revolving around feudalistic land practices and an immensely low compensation for the efforts they put into ensuring that food is filled in our tables, the call to stand in solidarity with them in combating these challenges is amplified. The development towards a more sustainable means of food production environment cannot commence while completely disregarding those who comprise its very foundation. Thus, the importance of radical change, especially when it comes to government policies and regulations in agricultural development, must be emphasized, in order to adequately address the pressing issues of health and nutrition we are currently facing.
Full of vigor, ideas, and aspirations are just a few words to describe the youth of the world today. Their relentless pursuit for knowledge in this developing world coupled with their innovative and creative minds fixated on improvement and progress, is an integration that is sure to propel progress all throughout their journey to self-discovery. In order to actualize the formulated solutions for the issues we have at hand, we need leaders that are dedicated to taking these plans into effect.
Youth involvement in state affairs is essential in ensuring that our future is on the right track. By immersing them in nation-building activities and encouraging them to be more outspoken and to take a progressive stance on issues that we are facing, we are honing our future leaders into formulating solutions that would be sustainable not only for their generation but also for the next. A progressive youth would bring forth a future that is not only guaranteed to fulfill the needs of the entire population, but also in prioritizing areas or sectors that are in most need.
The youth are tasked with the responsibility of putting together an array of solutions that would eventually pave the way for a progressive and sustainable future. The interconnection of the issues we face adds to the gravity of how vigilant we should be of our actions, as each of our next moves ultimately affect multiple sectors of society. Overall, the task we have at hand was never easy to begin with, but through rigorous planning and collective actions towards the goal of making the world an inclusive and a more sustainable environment for all, it is possible.
